You Were The Last Thing On My Mind
by Vixen2004
Summary: A very different and rather controversial look at Aries death. This pieces takes away all the glamour surrounding the incident and leaves you with the grim horrid details of what it really must have been like for Aries’ final moments. Die-hard Aries fan


Heyyy. I had a huge colossal warning on this thing because I am a Sunday School teacher and am very used to being over protective. If you read this previously you know what I mean. Basically, (and let's be blunt) I have Aeris use the f word. There, now you know. If you don't wanna see it, don't read it.  
  
Why did your eyes have to be so damn bright? Why did they have to always be staring at me? Why did I always have to stare back? Yes, that's a great way to go. I'll just blame the whole thing on myself. Problem solved. Yet not.  
  
Aeris whacked the lonesome branches of the tranquil Sleeping Forest out of her way absent-mindedly. Since when did she possess such force? And since when was she able to emit it physically?  
  
Oh no, not me. Never me. I'm the good girl. I can't do anything violent. I can't hit or slap or punch or even swear. When was the last time I got angry? No, I mean really angry. Like a full blown fit.  
  
Aeris let out a distressed yelp so laden with different emotions even she couldn't decipher. The twigs were coming back at her, full force now, snagging her clothing and hair and leaving long red scratch marks embezzled on her fair skin.  
  
I'm supposed to be filled with eternal satisfaction that I am doing this for the good of the Planet. That I am saving countless others with my sacrifice; that I am making my existence meaningful in the most desperate way possible, suffering for what I believe in. But it's not true. I don't want to die for the Planet. Why? Because quiet frankly I don't think it's worth it. It never was.  
  
Aeris could feel scolding hot tears forming in the corners of her iridescent eyes. They made their way down her humid cheeks, but not in the slow trickling fashion that was so common in times of despair and distress. In fact, there wasn't a single thing graceful about them. They came out in spurts, and plummeted from her chin onto her pink dress mingled with the most revolting display of mucus and spit ever witnessed. Such realism was never portrayed in the legendary past.  
  
Her lips were not in the usual pout. They were charred and bleeding due to her constant gnawing as she fought her way through the forest. She could taste the vile substance in the back of her mouth. She forced her petrified body to keep down the vomit that was penetrating throughout her stomach and practically dying to come out. Yes, I can handle blood. After all I am a fighter. But vomit? No. Not vomit. Vomit will make me lose my nerve. As long as I can keep dinner down I can force myself to go through with this.  
  
The thought of letting her finger find its way down the back of her throat suddenly became a favorable option. If she could just scare herself out of this then everything would be fine. She could go home and live happily ever after with Cloud and become Mrs. Strife. After all, that's what most angelic princesses do. So what was the difference now?  
  
I'm a stupid frickin' Cetra. That's the difference. I didn't ask to be one—I didn't want to be one! Ugh, why me? Why the bloody hell did it have to be me? Why not Tifa? No, Tifa isn't an Ancient. But she very well could be. And I very well could be her, and off laying in the midst of Cloud's arms rather than being attacked by killer thorn bushes and flying pieces of bark like I am now.  
  
Almost as if on cue a branch seemed to pop up out of nowhere and snag one of the unsuspecting boots of Aeris, causing her to fall down in a vast array of different shades of pink that would soon be splattered with one horrid unforgiving steak of brown mud. How poetic. Now the innocent victim was not only bleeding but also filthy.  
  
Oh excellent, look at me! I must really look attractive—Cloud will just be drooling over me now. I can't believe that stupid piece of God Forsaken wood had the initiative to make my last moments flat out miserable and—No Aeris, mind your tongue. It's not proper to mouth of and you know that. Yeah, like who the hell would know?  
  
Aeris dug her fingers into her eyes, trying to wipe away the deeply imbedded liquefied dirt that was now beginning to cake around her sweaty eyebrows. A crusty substance was all that remained and it continued to flake off in bits and pieces. How terribly romantic.  
  
Aeris continued to trek on, stomping her feet with so much force that they left perfect petite foot steps as she tromped through the soggy earth. She eventually looked up and came to the terrifying realization that her journey through the Sleeping Forest had almost ended. She was done marching off to her death. Now all that was left was to fulfill it. A chill gripped unmercifully at her and it was almost as if her heart was suffering a severe case of frostbite. Its repetitive beats nearly came to a complete stop as her stomach tumbled into the depths of Ifrit's fiery home down under.  
  
Just keep the food down. Just keep the food down. Just keep the food down. Just keep the food down. Just keep the food down. Just keep the food down. Just keep the food down.  
  
The struggle was all in vein. Before she could stop herself, her last supper was traveling back up her esophagus at such an alarming rate that the last Cetra feared she would fatefully choke on it and cut her dramatic death sentence short to a mere thirty seconds as she gagged and died due to complications of suffocation.  
  
Her bile was immediately spewed all over the previously gorgeous forest, the stench quickly rising to her keen nostrils and causing a firm grimace to find its way into her features. The after taste was awful and Aeris wanted nothing more than to hurry up and get her final moments over with since the prolonged journey was worse than she had ever imagined.  
  
The wind picked up at a freighting rate, and any other person may have became quiet tense to what had caused such a change in the climate.  
  
Oh for heaven sakes, I know Sephiroth is following me. You'd have to be BLIND not to see his pathetic black cape flying all over the place. He's been following me ever since we departed from the Temple of the Ancients. And I think we both know why.  
  
Aeris wiped the excess regurgitated food from her mouth with one graceful swipe of her hand—if she was capable of doing anything graceful at the current moment—and whirled around with a new found fury that she had never experienced before during her short lived life.  
  
Who the hell does he think he is? Destroying the Planet, prying me away from the love of my life, murdering me! He has caused so much—PAIN—and yet he shows no remorse of it. He doesn't care about what he is totally destroying. He doesn't observe the consequences of his actions. He simply strives to terminate the happiness that we have tried so hard to attain. Who does he think he is?!  
  
And it was at that moment that Aeris felt her pent up rage rise from what seemed to be the recently emptied pits of her stomach and fight its way out in one glorious phrase that Aeris had never allowed to escape her mouth in her short span of tender childhood.  
  
"Fuck you Sephiroth!!!"  
  
The curse echoed through out the deserted landscape and rang in Aeris ears long after it was proclaimed. Tremendously embarrassed for what she had just let herself holler, Aeris crumpled down into mud in one destroyed heap and sobbed until her eyes felt as though they may bleed. And it wasn't the petty whimpers of captured princesses, it was gut wrenching sobs of remorse for what was about the happen and all that she was going to leave behind.  
  
Oh Cloud! If only I had told you when I had the chance . . .if only I didn't have to die. . .  
  
This morbid farewell continued well into the night. Aeris silently prayed for her amazing group of friends who would probably follow her to her death if they could. No, they wouldn't follow her. They'd die for her. And she knew that. But knowing that didn't make leaving them any easier.  
  
I don't care if Sephiroth sees me. I don't case if he thinks I am the biggest wuss in the world, I just want to live. I just want to die happy. I just want to see Cloud one last time.  
  
The Ancient was forced to crawl the rest of the way. Any other female and that would have been a sign of utter disgrace. But Aries cared nothing of her reputation now. It's not like she'd be around to enjoy it anyway.  
  
The hours went by in minutes, the minutes in seconds. Eventually Aeris found herself down on her knees praying sheltered by the forgotten city of her ancestors. She prayed so fervently that her hair hung limp due to the fact it was drenched with perspiration. Her body order was more than offensive, but there was nothing that could be done about that now. Nothing left to do but die.  
  
When I opened my eyes for that final time I never thought I'd see you there. You were the last thing on my mind. You were the only thing on my mind. And I wanted to die while remembering you, only I didn't have to because you appeared before me during those bitter sweet last moments. I felt a smile form on my lips, something I had not done in the last twenty- four hours, and those last twenty-four hours seemed like all eternity.  
  
And that's when I felt Sephiroth's searing deadly stab cut through me. I felt the impact and saw the blade protrude out of my lean stomach. I knew the blow was coming. I knew all along.  
  
The last thing I wanted to see was your eyes, but you were busy gaping at Sephiroth. The only thing I can remember was the anger etched so deeply into your features, and I wanted nothing more than to die knowing that you had finally smiled. 


End file.
